Budget action camera recommendations?

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jonathan18

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#303832 13-Mar-2023 08:27

I’m looking for an ‘action camera’ to use on a kite; looking for decent enough quality but at a good price (say no more than $300).

Needs to have image stabilisation; would prefer one with a front screen.

Looking at the best bang for buck options, Akaso cameras are often recommended at the lower price end, and so I have been looking at either:

Brave 7 LE (benefit of front screen; about $290)
V50X (though have seen some criticism of image quality in latest version)

Are there any models or brands people would recommend (to buy or avoid)?

Or would there be a compact phone with decent camera and OIS that I could buy for a similar cost?

Or does anyone have one they’re keen on selling? Happy to purchase second-hand if anyone has one they no longer need.

Thanks for any advice.

Handsomedan

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#3049450 13-Mar-2023 08:48

Prior to going GoPro for our mountain biking adventures, we had a few budget GoPro clones taht were all surprisingly good.

SJ Cam. THey are the clone that gets cloned (if that makes sense).

Significantly cheaper than GoPro, but with similar abilities/quality.

https://shop.sjcam.com/product/cameras/action-cameras/sj6-pro/

https://shop.sjcam.com/product/cameras/action-cameras/sj8-dual-screen/

https://shop.sjcam.com/product/cameras/action-cameras/sj10-pro-dual-screen/

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wratterus

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#3049451 13-Mar-2023 08:52

Would a second hand GoPro not be an good option?

jonathan18

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#3049455 13-Mar-2023 09:14

Thanks for the replies.

Yep, I recall when I was buying one for one of my kids a few years back SJ Cam was the most recommended rip-off brand; I bought him one and it performed ok but the build quality wasn’t amazing - this seems to have improved with the models you’ve linked to, though. (From what’s posted now it seems like Akaso may be the new SJ Cam in terms of performance-bang-for-buck, but I may have this wrong.)

Any sites you’d recommend buying SJ Cam cameras from? I see they’re on AE but not really sold much on Amazon.

I’m ok looking at a s/h Go Pro, for sure, but I’d be ideally looking for one that came with a couple of batteries. Will I get better performance from a Hero 5 than something like a Brave 7E? There’s another auction for a Hero 5 with two batteries and a bit cheaper - is $275 a reasonable price? The 5 looks like it was released back in 2016, so is it getting a bit old in the tooth?

Handsomedan

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#3049464 13-Mar-2023 09:43

jonathan18:

Any sites you’d recommend buying SJ Cam cameras from? I see they’re on AE but not really sold much on Amazon.

I think they must've fallen out with Amazon, as they were the biggest selling clone action cam on the site, then all of a sudden, they weren't.

I honestly don't know where you buy them from now, other than directly from their website.

Re your comment on the GoPro 5 - they are holding their price despite the age, as they were one of the most reliable of the "new" GoPro range. They were the first ones to not need a housing for water resistance and they had a lot less issues with overheating and failures than many of the newer ones, so people buy them pretty readily.

I have a Hero 8 Black which (after being replaced under warranty for just stopping) has been flawless for a couple of years and my son has my old Hero 7 Silver which is also pretty good (I won the Hero 8; wouldn't have upgraded otherwise).

Looking at Amazon, it does look like an Akaso Brave 7 would be the way to go these days though. Generally speaking the reviews appear pretty good and they seem to be very GoPro-esque.

My only concern with the ones that are brands I am unfamiliar with is that the specs are often overstated - i.e. the stabilisation is barely able to keep up and the MP count is often through interpolation so 4K is not really 4K, but might be 1080p with some clever software tweaks.

Personally, I only really know SJ Cam and GoPro from my own experience and both have been pretty satisfactory.

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